Tanka: Accepting the Sun

a blue and white whippet in a winter jacket walking into a driftwood shelter on the beach
a blue and white whippet in a winter jacket walking on the beach

driftwood shelter
the tide turns to prayer
accepting the sun
with love and light as signposts
the pain can be undone

© Xenia Tran

This poem was subsequently anthologised in The Haiku Way to Healing,
edited by Robert Epstein (2022)

a black whippet in a winter jacket on the beach beside a shelter made from driftwood

Wishing you all a blessed Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/5.6 – 1/160 s – ISO 200 and f/5.6 – 1/200 s – ISO 200.

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Twist

Tanka Thursday: Turn

PI Poetry Prompt: Pain

Author: whippetwisdom

The stories, poems and photographs on this blog are the original creative work of Xenia Tran. Inspired by life in the Scottish Highlands and in awe of nature she gives voice to the wisdom of her adopted and fostered whippets.

43 thoughts on “Tanka: Accepting the Sun”

    1. Thank you kindly dear Laurie, I was deeply moved by the inauguration speeches yesterday and got the sense there is a great willingness to heal and unite. Thinking of you and wishing you all the best going forward 🤗💖 xxx

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  6. Absolutely perfect, my dear friend Xenia. Already I have scribbled a possible opening for a possible poem.
    As noted above, also perfect of the United States just now. I must confess, I spent almost all of my day with the inauguration. And for me, who calls himself a poet, just adored your you poet laureate.
    So, could I have permission to use your photo for when I finish my possible poem?
    PS: I have transferred almost completely to gmail, so that is why I am so sporadic at checking my telus email.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much for your kind words dear Herb. The inauguration was very special yesterday and I was deeply moved by all the speeches and the beautiful poem by Amanda Gorman, the youth Poet Laureate, too. Please feel free to use the photo for your poem and thank you for asking. Stay safe and well dear friend and happy writing 🤗💜

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. Hey Xenia: Here is my poem. Thank you so much for the inspiration, dear friend.
    (May I, I may publish on my blog tomorrow??)

    TANGLED WEB

    H. W. Bryce

    “What a tangled web we weave when at first
    we start to deceive.”* Learning to Dissemble
    at our fathers’ knees to bulldoze giant trees
    and leave a pile of tangled roots and thirst.

    But through it all, there is a chink of light
    that lets the sun shine through upon the dust,
    reveals the rust that sits upon our blemish—
    IF we are wise enough to heed that light.

    There is beauty in the pyre of death
    as phoenix flames renew fire of the soul
    to burn on as shepherds for the fire of good
    to fight for right, even to your dying breath.

    Life should be more than a pile of rubble.
    Let us resolve our efforts to redouble.
    — —
    My sincere thanks to Xenia Tran at http://www.whippetwisdom.com
    For her remarkable photograph and haibun, and for her generous
    Permission to use this picture, which inspired this poem.

    * NOTE— The quote “Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we start to deceive” is not by Shakespeare but by Walter Scott in his poem “Marmion.” It refers to the effects of lying and how as one lie leads to more the lies multiply, and we become trapped in the dishonesty.

    (Alas Humans!)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. My pleasure Xenia. Inspiration is where you find it. Or, perhaps more accurately, from wherever it finds you. I didn’t think when I met you that I would be inspired by whippets, but they have led me there more than once. How grand.

        Liked by 1 person

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